Sales, marketing, business, and Internet tips for service businesses, such as plumbing, HVAC contractors, and other small business entrepreneurs.

Monday, February 2, 2015

Why Unlicensed Contractors
are Like the New England Patriots

Much of the NFL discussion leading up to last night’s
Super Bowl, centered on “deflate-gate.” Similar
stuff happens every day in the service trades.

In case you’ve been living under a rock, deflate-gate is
a reference to the AFC Championship game when the New England Patriots were
found using under-inflated footballs in wet conditions, making them easier to
grip and catch. New England quarterback,
Tom Brady had even mentioned
his preference for under-inflated balls in the past.

Colts safety, Mike Adams knew immediately after
intercepting a Brady pass that the ball didn’t feel right, so he handed it to
his equipment manager for later inspection (Each team provides its own balls,
which are checked twice by referees before kickoff). When Adams intercepted a second pass and
discovered that it too, was under-inflated, the Colts complained. After the game, it was reported that eleven
of twelve balls were under-inflated.

It is unlikely Brady didn’t know the balls were
under-inflated. NFL analyst and former
Super Bowl quarterback Troy Aikman, not known for hyperbole, commented, “It’s
obvious that Tom Brady had something to do with this... for the balls to be
deflated, that doesn’t happen unless the quarterback wants that to happen, I
can assure you of that.”

Anyone who ever played sports with an inflated ball finds
it hard to imagine someone not recognizing one that’s under-inflated. This goes for basketball, soccer, volleyball,
and football.

It also stretches credibility to think Patriots head
coach, Bill Belichick didn’t know about the deflated footballs. This is a guy who manages details to the
degree he tweaks the conditions of practice footballs. He’s stated, “With regard to footballs, I’m
sure that any current or past player of mine will tell you that the balls we
practice with, are as bad as they can be — wet, sticky, cold, slippery —
however bad we can make ‘em, I make ‘em. And, anytime that players complain
about the quality of the balls, I make ‘em worse, and that stops. So, we never
use the condition of the footballs as an excuse. We play with whatever or kick
with whatever we have to use, and that’s the way it is.”

He’s not helped by a past that is full of transgressions
and instances of pushing the limits of the rulebook, if not flagrantly
violating it. For Belichick to be
innocent, he would be a leopard who changed his spots.

Ironically, any edge the footballs gave the Patriots was
unnecessary. The team manhandled the
overmatch Colts. They cheated without
the need.

This is exactly like unlicensed contractors and
unpermitted work. Just like the Patriots
would have won without breaking the rules, contractors can succeed and make
money by operating within the constraints of licensing laws and permitting
rules. Like the Patriots, they choose
not to. Why?

I do not understand people who cheat when they need not,
people who lie when the truth will serve, and people who steal the work of
others when they are capable of producing their own. I assume they are taking what they perceive
is the easier path. I assume they
perceive the risk/reward ratio tilted in favor of breaking the rules.

If breaking the rules in the NFL had consequences, New
England’s win over the Colts would have been forfeit. Whether the underinflated balls altered the
outcome of the game or not, it was cheating.
At the very least, the NFL could have suspended Belichick and Brady for
the Super Bowl. After a Super Bowl win any
punishment seems trite, trivial, and irrelevant.

It’s like catching a kid with his hand in the cookie jar,
but letting him eat the cookie anyway, and then telling him he couldn’t have
another. At that point, who cares?

The reason the NFL failed to take action is the
cost. The consequence of suspending
coaches, players, or instituting a forfeit would have tarnished the league and
turned the Super Bowl into a joke. Most
fans would have seen it as overkill. It
was a cost no one was willing to take.
Thus, the reward of a potential edge, no matter how slight, is greater
than an ephemeral cost factored by the risk of getting caught.

Similarly, the risks and costs of getting caught
operating without a license or performing work without permits represent
insufficient deterrence for contractors.
While we could raise the penalties or tighten enforcement to increase
the risk of getting caught, no one is willing to accept the costs. Few in the public would consider it
acceptable, for example, to incarcerate an unlicensed contractor. No one wants to pay for a significant
increase in enforcement personnel.

Whether in sports or contracting, you can play hard and
still play by the rules. You can also
seek to win at all costs, regardless of rules and ethics. It’s your choice. Personally, I choose to sleep well at night
and maintain the ability look myself in the mirror when I wake.